all turn to fire
by LadyMoriel
Summary: "I have a feeling everything is going to turn out fine," Thor says, and for a second—just a second—Loki believes him, or wants to enough that it makes no difference. The moment lasts no longer than it takes to think it. (Rated for violence. This was a speculation fic based on Infinity War trailers, so there are actually no spoilers for the movie.)


_I'm kind of late posting this here, but I actually wrote this before Infinity War came out, so it's purely speculation based on the trailers. Having seen the movie now, I guess I can call this an AU, but if you haven't seen the movie yet and have somehow managed to avoid spoilers, this fic is safe to read because it doesn't include any spoilers. (I also had no idea what kinds of powers Ebony Maw actually had in the movie, so the way I've written him here is mostly based on Marvel Future Fight_ _—yes, the mobile game_ _—which is itself based on comics.) Title is a song by The Builders and The Butchers._

* * *

"I have a feeling everything is going to turn out fine," Thor says, and for a second—just a second—Loki believes him, or wants to enough that it makes no difference.

The moment lasts no longer than it takes to think it. He doesn't recognize the massive ship that suddenly looms over them, not by sight, but he _knows_ it, right down to his bones and the pit of his stomach. All those years in Asgard, constantly planning and looking over his shoulder before gradually coming to hope that Thanos had forgotten him, and now—at the worst possible time, in the worst possible place, with Asgard gone and its people reduced to a handful of refugees on a freight ship, as if Thanos had planned this for the moment of their greatest vulnerability—

No, Loki realizes, his nausea increasing. Thanos didn't need to plan this. Loki himself damned them all the moment he took the Tesseract from the vault. _Of course_ Thanos has been tracking it, ever since Loki's failure on Midgard; _of course_ he would strike now, with Asgard destroyed and all the wards on the vault that might have kept it from the Titan's sight. He must have sensed the Tesseract's presence as soon as Surtur fulfilled his prophecy, if not sooner.

He must make a noise of some kind, because Thor turns to him, eyebrows furrowed in mild concern, and Loki is struck with the hysterical desire to laugh because Thor has _no idea_. Of course he doesn't, he never _asked_ (and Loki never said anything, because no one asked, because he wanted to forget, because he hoped and then started to believe that Thanos could do nothing without the Tesseract in the first place, because thinking about Thanos meant confronting all of it and he _couldn't_ , because…so many reasons that no longer matter, now that the reckoning is upon him anyway).

Well. None of it really matters now, does it?

"Thor," he says, through lips that feel curiously numb. "We have to put this ship down _now_ or we won't have a chance. Tell the bridge—find the nearest planet, anything at all, and prepare for a jump to it the instant we give the command. And until then, divert all remaining power to the shields."

Thor looks at him searchingly. "You know this vessel."

"I know its master," Loki says. "Brother, there's no _time_ , we have to be ready to move the second that ship threatens us." Thor studies him for another moment before nodding and relaying the order through the commlink, and Loki adds, "You may as well call Heimdall and the Valkyrie—oh, and Banner too, I suppose." He almost wishes Thor and Valkyrie hadn't been successful at persuading the beast to cede control to his human counterpart, but then, the Hulk is almost certainly incapable of understanding the specifics of the situation. "They should hear this too."

* * *

Only a few minutes at most pass before the five of them gather in a small observation room off the bridge, but to Loki it feels like an eternity, knowing Thanos is there, _watching_. Whether he is simply curious to see what the Asgardians will do unprompted or he wants Loki worked into a frenzy of fearful anticipation, the effect is roughly the same. He keeps one shoulder toward the window, because looking at the ship makes him want to vomit but turning his back on it entirely is equally unbearable.

"That vessel belongs to the Mad Titan," Loki says, and then forces the name out: "Thanos. You may have heard of him, you may not, but it hardly matters. He seeks the Infinity Stones, which he will wield to cause enormous destruction across—the entire universe, probably. His lieutenants, the Black Order, are most likely on that ship as well, and they are powerful in their own right, especially when backed up by whatever footsoldiers the Titan commands. I am not sure what force that might be now, but quite recently he was followed by a great many Chitauri."

"Wait, what?" Banner says, as Thor's eye widens and he opens his mouth to speak.

"Let me _finish_ ," Loki says, half-desperate. "Specifically, he wants the Tesseract. That is why—when he found me, in the Void. He sent me to Midgard to retrieve it. Gave me the scepter, the Mind Stone, and I lost them both. I thought—it doesn't matter. He couldn't take the Tesseract from Asgard or didn't want to try unless he knew he could win. But now—"

"You took the Tesseract from the vault," Thor says, his expression unreadable.

"I couldn't very well leave it there, could I?" Loki snaps, but he can't look at his brother. "Besides, I never could've gotten back to the _Commodore_ in time without it."

" _Shit_ , Lackey," the Valkyrie says. "I knew you were trouble, but this is another level."

"The Mad Titan is not an enemy we can fight, not as we are," Heimdall says, and thank the Norns that he at least is willing to focus on practicalities. "The engineers are spinning up the FTL drives, but we only have the power for a single jump, and if Thanos can track the Tesseract, it may not buy us much time."

"Which is why we have to jump to a planet," Loki says. "Land, go to ground, make his job a bit harder. Otherwise he'll simply shoot us out of the sky and pluck whatever he wants from the rubble, and once he has the Tesseract, his quest to gather the other Infinity Stones will become much, much simpler." He glances at Banner. "Midgard holds _two_ of them. If he does not travel there next, he will soon."

"Okay, great," Banner says, "so can you use the Tesseract to get us somewhere? I mean that's its whole thing, right, making giant portals? Wouldn't that be faster?"

Loki resists the impulse to hunch his shoulders. "I…do not know how. In theory, yes, but something as large as this ship would require time or materials we simply do not have." He could have studied the damn thing, of course, all that time it was sitting in Asgard's vault, but he'd thought—it was _safe_ , there, and attempting to use it might have drawn attention he absolutely did not want, and it was easier to keep from thinking about everything the Tesseract represented if he didn't have to look at it.

( _Coward._ )

"Well then," Thor says grimly, "I suppose we had better hope the drives are ready in time."

* * *

"I wish you had told me," Thor says quietly as they wait by the bridge's viewport.

Loki looks sidelong at him. It takes almost 15 minutes to cycle the FTL drives up from a cold start; 11 minutes have passed since Thor first gave the order, and each one seems to wind Loki's nerves tighter. He wants to pace, wants to scream until his throat tears, anything to relieve the tension crawling under his skin, but all he can do is wait while Thanos watches. Of course Thor would see it as a perfect opportunity to talk. He's probably right, Loki supposes, Norns know they might not have another chance, but—he can't. He _can't_.

"Well, I didn't," he says finally. "Neither of us can change that now."

Thor is silent for a moment. "You said…he found you in the Void."

"I told you everything that is relevant to the current situation," Loki says tightly. "Leave the rest alone."

"I am not only concerned with what is _relevant_."

"And I am not going to do this now," Loki starts to say. He is interrupted by an enormous flash from the Titan's ship, the _Statesman_ shudders under their feet, and just like that they are out of time.

"Shields at eighty-six percent," Heimdall says. "Two minutes, seven seconds to jump."

Loki swears. "I can almost guarantee that wasn't his largest canon. And on a ship that size—" The _Statesman_ jerks again, harder this time, the particle shields flaring outside the viewport.

"Sixty-seven percent," Heimdall says.

"Is there _any_ other nonessential power we can divert to speed up the FTL drives?" Thor asks. "Banner, _please_ stay calm, the last thing we need is an early hull breach."

"Yeah that really helps, thanks—"

The Sakaaran woman at the power readout shakes her head. "Everything's already off except shields, engines, life support, and the lights in here."

"Then cut the damn lights," Loki says. "Cut the sublight engines, and take oxygen down by half. We can survive that for a few minutes."

The entire bridge goes dark, lit only by the glow of the displays and the distant stars out in the black. Loki can feel his heartbeat picking up and he curls both hands into fists. Dizziness is already tugging at him, and he doubts it's from the lack of oxygen.

Two more hits in quick succession. "Shields at twenty-four percent," Heimdall says, his voice finally taking on a note of strain. "Nineteen seconds to jump."

Loki digs his nails into his palms until the skin breaks. Next to him, Thor begins the countdown under his breath. The Titan's ship strikes them again at sixteen seconds, eleven, five—

"Shields down," Heimdall says as an incongruously calm alarm begins to chime, and then everything happens at once. Three of the Titan's canons fire at the same time just as they make the jump, the _Statesman_ jerking under them hard enough that Loki staggers and several people on the bridge cry out. Several more alarms begin to blare, the moment stretching, unreal colors swirling past the viewport.

 _Please_ , Loki thinks, and on top of that, _he's still playing with us. He timed this._

The _Statesman_ reenters normal space with a shuddering _crack_ , already breaching the upper layers of some unfortunate planet's atmosphere. For an instant all the screens flicker before everything dies, all the readouts, the faint vibration of the engines, the hiss of ventilation, and the ship begins to list downward.

"Will someone _restart the fucking engines_ ," Valkyrie shouts.

"They're gone," Heimdall says, his golden eyes almost glowing in the dimness. "That last hit took out two completely, one is destroyed, and the last is barely functioning. And—" He grimaces. "The escape pods are _all_ damaged."

Thor swears. The ship is already picking up speed, the shakes worsening with every passing second, and the atmosphere outside the viewport begins to flare hot with the friction of their passage.

 _I'm sorry,_ Loki wants to say, and doesn't. "I can—try to slow us down. And someone has to warn Midgard. Banner—"

"Here," he says, voice a little muffled.

Loki hauls himself to Banner's side, the handrail nearly shuddering from his grip. He wraps one arm around it to free his hands and pulls the Tesseract out of hiding.

"Um," Banner says. His face looks sickly in the sudden wash of blue light.

"Apologies," Loki says, "I'm afraid this won't be pleasant," and he seizes Banner's arm, yanks on a single thread of the Tesseract's power, and sends the scientist hurtling to Midgard. The instant the working completes, he stuffs the Tesseract away, its power already threatening to overwhelm him.

Thor bends closer, nearly shouting to be heard over the creaks and groans of the _Statesman_ starting to shake itself apart. "Where did you—"

"New York," Loki shouts back. "I think. Now—don't distract me—" He crouches and presses one hand flat to the deck, drawing on all that remains of his own power and pouring it into the _Statesman_. He can feel the pieces breaking off, the wind tearing at them, the _heat_ , and he grits his teeth, straining to keep everything together. He could do this easily with one person, even a small group of people, or something much larger for a shorter distance, but a ship this size—fighting its weight and the increasing pull of gravity, trying to bleed off some of their momentum, dissipate the heat building and building and _building_ —

It isn't enough. Everything he has, and it isn't going to be enough. All he can do is try to soften the landing. He can barely see the bridge anymore, vision tunneling from the intensity of his concentration or the pressure or both, but he vaguely hears the Valkyrie yelling "Everyone _brace now_!"; vaguely feels Thor curl over and around him, anchoring and protecting him because he can't spare the attention to do it himself—can't see anything outside but he can sense it, the unforgiving ground coming closer, closer, closer—

The thin shield of his _seidr_ takes the impact first. He doesn't feel anything else.

* * *

The world comes back slowly and then all at once. The first thing Loki knows is that he aches, everywhere; second, it is dark, with light flickering at the edges of his vision. He blinks hard, trying to take stock, but the lights are still flickering in ways lights aboard a spaceship typically do not, almost like—fire—

Oh. That's not good.

Loki forces himself into a sitting position, and bits of metal cascade off his body to the floor, which tilts alarmingly underneath him as he moves. But he isn't pinned, and nothing inside him feels broken, so that is at least a start. It also seems to be the only good news available, because he is surrounded by the wreck of the _Statesman_ , the ship broken into pieces on the surface of whatever planet was unlucky enough to catch them. He can see bodies, dozens of them, some nearby on the floor of the destroyed bridge and many more scattered across the ground below. Some of the bodies are mangled and crushed; some look nearly unscathed except for their unnatural stillness. Some are only unconscious, he thinks—a few are already beginning to stir—but far too many of Asgard's tiny remnant is dead. And this is only the portion he can see; the Norns only know what the overall casualty rate is, or how many more will leave the ranks of the living in the next few minutes if they aren't found quickly. Fires burn everywhere, in the pieces that are still recognizable as having once been part of a ship and in the trail of wreckage left behind where they plowed into the earth.

And the worst part is, none of that is the worst part. The worst part is the gleaming black shuttlecraft perched above the carnage like a beast taking a moment to savor its victory before devouring the kill—the shuttlecraft, and the beings striding down its lowered ramp.

Loki goes still, all the air leaving his lungs. For a long moment he can't move, can't breathe, and at first he thinks one of them has already seized control of him over the distance. But he inhales raggedly, his hands shaking, and understands it is only his own terror that paralyzes him. It's been years, now, since he's seen the Titan outside of his own nightmares. Those were bad enough, sometimes sending him awake screaming, unable for long moments to remember what was real and what was only memory. But even his nightmares did not fully capture him, the way he radiates presence and _power_ , and Loki's mind races in useless, frantic fear. He wants to hide somewhere the Titan will never find him ( _nowhere is safe_ ) or start running and never stop. If he uses the Tesseract to escape then Thanos will only hunt him down again, but if he leaves it behind and flees, then maybe, maybe—

Another crumpled pile of metal slides to the floor as the person underneath shoves it away, and even through his panic, Loki knows he is not going to try. He is not going to hide like a coward and hope to be overlooked; he is not going to abandon the Tesseract and leave Asgard's pitiful remnant to its fate. Because it's the Valkyrie that is stiffly pushing herself up, disheveled but alive, and revealed next to her is Thor. He is lying face down, dirty and battered and very still, and Loki's throat closes.

If Thor is still alive, Loki cannot leave him. And if—if he—

If he is dead, and all Loki can do for him is try, hopelessly and pointlessly, to protect what remains of his people—

"Valkyrie," he calls hoarsely. "My brother—is he—"

She sits up the rest of the way, the skin around her eyes tightening in pain she doesn't voice, and leans over Thor's body. "Come on," Loki hears her mutter. "Come on, you asshole, just…" She's silent for what feels like a very long moment during which Loki is nearly certain he is going to vomit, and then her shoulders drop and she says, "Yeah, he's—he's alive. Still breathing, just out cold."

Loki releases a long breath, a little of the sick tension leaving him—but not much, not with Thanos _right here_ like his nightmares come to life (or some of his nightmares, and with Thor still alive another might well be on its way). Not when he knows that he is not going to try to save himself if it means abandoning the only family he has left.

It's good that Thor is unconscious. Anything else would only make this harder. He hauls himself up against the remains of the console and immediately has to go still so the world will stop spinning. Thanos and the Black Order (and oh yes, Loki remembers them, far too well) are close enough now to step over bodies. One begins to stir; without looking down, Corvus Glaive buries his spear in the Asgardian's chest.

Loki squeezes his eyes shut and slumps back down, struggling to gather his nerve and his remaining strength. The best he can do now for his people is to dangle the Tesseract as bait and then use it to flee somewhere very far away, in the hope that Thanos and his minions will abandon the survivors to pursue him. They will run him to the ground eventually, of course—probably sooner rather than later—and Thanos might leave some of his forces behind to wipe out Asgard's remnant on principle, but at least it will give them a chance.

—would, rather, if he were capable, and Loki realizes with a plunging sensation in his gut that he is not. He depleted nearly all his resources trying to slow their descent, and what remains might be enough to open a gateway with the Tesseract under ordinary circumstances. But Thanos is here and the Infinity Gauntlet is here and even with the Tesseract tucked away in the folds of reality, he can feel it yearning toward the place prepared for it on the gauntlet. Overriding its will would require energy he simply does not have.

Valkyrie pushes herself up enough to see Thanos and his companions and grimaces. "Can't say I love those odds. What d'you think, split up and come at them from either side? At least there's some cover."

"We are not going to fight," Loki says. "What's more important is finding any survivors and getting them as far away as possible. The _Commodore_ might be intact, so that is as good a place as any to start."

Valkyrie's eyes narrow. "One, that's a dogshit plan because for all we know the two of us might be the only ones conscious, and the only thing we can realistically do that might save _anybody_ is fight. And two, I still don't answer to you."

Loki almost smiles. "Actually, you do, because Thor named me his heir, and he is currently unable to give any orders. And _my_ orders are for you to evacuate as many people as you can, to whatever extent you can, while I try to buy you some time."

"Switch that around," Valkyrie says. "I'm the better fighter, and you can use your magic to find people, right? So let me distract them."

"I don't mean that kind of distraction, and we are running out of time," Loki snaps. "Do it. Protect Thor, above all else." He struggles to his feet, bracing himself on a broken girder.

"While you do what, exactly," Valkyrie says.

"Ask them politely to leave." Loki takes an experimental step and grimaces as pain zings up his right leg. He can put weight on it, though, and soon enough it probably won't matter anyway. "Failing that, I am going to stall for time. I suggest you hurry."

Valkyrie still looks annoyed, but she hoists Thor over her shoulder and heaves herself upright. "Yeah, okay, but make it good. I don't think we're gonna get far. And—" She lets out a disgruntled sigh. "Be careful."

"As if I am ever anything else," Loki says dryly. (He is a little proud he managed it, as if he doesn't feel like throwing up from fear.) He hesitates, then adds, "When Thor wakes, tell him…" There are so many things still left unsaid, no way to condense them down to a few words. "Oh, hell, I don't know. Whatever you'd tell an idiot likely to think the rules of head injuries don't apply to him."

He doesn't—can't—wait for a reply, instead scrambling over the shattered bulkhead and picking his way to the ground. The only decent route puts the Titan temporarily out of his sight, and again he is seized with the panicky desire to hurl the Tesseract away from himself and run. He keeps going, skirting half a dozen fires, trying to step lightly on broken bulkheads that groan under his feet. (He has the sudden image of himself slipping, falling several decks only to impale himself on some particularly sharp piece of wreckage and die before Thanos even notices his presence. It probably says a great deal about his state of mind that this strikes him as darkly, hilariously funny.) As it is, he slips often enough to become even more aware of his battered state by the time he reaches bottom, and equally aware that it doesn't matter.

Loki stumbles around a corner and gives himself just one more moment, pausing with his hand on the bulkhead to marshal his nerve. He can see the Titan again, looking around dispassionately at the wreckage and the bodies, and once again Loki must force down the (cowardly, pointless) desire to run until his lungs give out. His breath is already coming short, just seeing Thanos again, as if the noose tightening around his throat is more than merely figurative.

"Well," Thanos says. His voice is not loud but oh, it _carries_. "I have heard a great deal about the strength of Asgard's warriors. Thus far, I can't say I'm impressed." He nods to Ebony Maw, who moves forward, stepping over bodies as if they are no more deserving of notice than the rest of the debris.

"Ah," Ebony Maw says. (Loki shudders, hand clenching against the metal. That _voice_ —) "We have a live one." He stretches out a hand over a young Asgardian, barely more than a boy, and twitches his fingers. The boy jerks upright with a gasp, and Ebony Maw raises his voice: "Someone had better bring out the Tesseract, or I'll make this child pull out his own entrails with his bare hands." The threat sounds like hyperbole. It isn't. Loki remembers.

He forces himself to walk forward, to keep from quailing when the Titan's gaze lands on him, to keep his voice steady when he says, "There's no need for the theatrics. I have what you seek."

"Laufeyson," Thanos says, and smiles. "Do you think your bravado will save you? I should have known you were too slippery to fall to one of the Kursed. But as they say on Terra, the third time is the charm."

Loki swallows hard, but he makes himself keep walking until he stands only a few paces from his worst nightmare, the one he hoped above all else he would never, ever again see in the flesh. The Titan's Children drift from his sides to take up positions in a loose semicircle at Loki's back. Cull Obsidian's looming presence makes him wish (a little hysterically) for the Hulk; Corvus Glaive eyes him sidelong, as if he is already planning which part of Loki's body he will carve up first when he is given the order; in his peripheral vision, Proxima Midnight raises her spear to shoulder height and levels it at Loki's head; but worst of all is Ebony Maw, a silent presence at Loki's back, so that Loki will have no warning when he strikes. He stares straight ahead, eyes on Thanos, and doesn't allow himself to turn.

"Well, little god," the Titan says. His voice seems to resonate in Loki's bones. "You are very, very late in bringing me what was promised."

Loki raises his chin. "I will give you the Tesseract," he says, and hopes Valkyrie cannot hear him. "But I will not give it to you for nothing. Your force failed to win me Midgard, after all—as was also promised."

"After all this time," Thanos says, "and you think to bargain, as if you have anything left that I might value? I broke you of that arrogance before. I suppose I will just have to remind you of your place."

"It's a simple request," Loki says quickly. "I ask only that you take me with you, and leave these unworthy foes to their fate. Then I will give you the Tesseract, and I will serve you again if you wish it, if there is some way I may yet repay you for my failure." It's a long shot and he knows that full well, but he has to try.

Thanos smiles again. "You still think you can lie to me?"

There is a soft sound behind him, the slightest rustle of robes, and then Ebony Maw touches his mind and everything is _gone_ , replaced by—

— _he is pinned down on his back, a metal device holding his head in place and tightly fastened around his jaw both inside and out, and at a command from the Other, one of the Chitauri cranks it apart until Loki's mouth is held wide open and the corners of his lips begin to split. Then the Other stands over him so he fills Loki's vision, and says, "You lied to Lord Thanos again, didn't you, frostling worm?" Loki makes an inarticulate noise of denial. "There, another lie. You forget already: we have opened your mind, seen all that you are and found you wanting. Pathetic. And still you think you can deceive us. If you cannot learn to silence your lying tongue, well then—we shall do it for you." And he leans down, forceps in one hand and scalpel in the other, and cuts out Loki's tongue. Loki barely has time to scream before he begins to choke on his own blood._ _The Other smiles down at him, or at least bares its teeth in a grotesque mockery of a smile. "By the time that grows back, perhaps you will have learned to speak only truth to the one who plucked your wretched carcass from the Void and gave you purpose."_

—and he comes back to himself on his knees, coughing, his mouth tasting powerfully of blood. He is not injured, he has his tongue and his lips are not stitched shut (something else the Other seemed to enjoy, on more than one occasion), but the coppery taste remains. And this, from Ebony Maw, was a warning shot compared to what he can do—the difference between a tap on the shoulder and a knife in the back.

Loki gives himself a moment, no more, and then he carefully climbs back to his feet, suppressing the urge to spit out blood that only exists (so far) in his memory. At least he has their attention. If he can keep the focus on _him_ , keep Thanos from using the survivors as hostages, then maybe—

No. He is not going to think about what will happen if he succeeds. It is for Thor and Asgard, and that is all that matters, all that he needs to remember.

He takes a steadying breath and says, "Do you think a little pain will make me give up this power now that I have it? I was weak when you saved me; I am not so weak now. Give me some guarantee that I will have a place at your side, even if it is a lowly one, and the Tesseract is yours."

Corvus Glaive snorts. "You think we cannot simply take it from you?"

Loki bares his teeth in something like a smile. "Yes, in fact, I do. I have not been idle, these past few years. I have used and channeled the power of Asgard-that-was to make myself far stronger than I ever was before. Where I have hidden the Tesseract, none of you can reach—you can only kill me trying, and if you do, it _will_ be lost to the Void." This, at least, is not entirely a lie, because he did work at strengthening his defenses, although in truth he doubts it will make much difference. As for the other, well—it could be true, and it only matters that he can convince Thanos not to take the risk. He has sold lies with no element of truth whatsoever, before. (Not to a being like Thanos.)

"Now that is an interesting claim," Thanos says. "I seem to recall you were not terribly difficult to persuade, the last time you enjoyed my hospitality."

Ebony Maw moves again, and Loki fruitlessly tries to brace himself before—

 _—he is pinned down again, this time with metal rods speared through his wrists and ankles, and the blue Luphomoid cyborg is methodically, dispassionately peeling off his skin, starting with his legs and working upward, shocking him awake or injecting him with stimulants every time he wavers on the edge of consciousness—_

 _—he is hanging suspended by his ankles over a tank of water, nearly blinded by the steam; they drop him in up to his knees and he_ burns _, inside and out, water searing his lungs as his panicked body tries to scream—_

 _—he is strapped to a metal chair, gasping for breath, Ebony Maw seated across from him and smiling, and it is harder and harder to remember what is reality and which horrors exist only in his mind, not when Ebony Maw can effortlessly invade the latter and force him through imaginary death after imaginary death and it all feels_ so real _(trapped in Asgard's dungeon for years until he finally dies of thirst, long after he has lost his mind; held down by Mjolnir as Thor breaks every bone in his body and then dismembers him, finally ending by sawing off his head with a pocket knife; devoured alive by a pack of Jotnar; lowered by degrees into a vat of acid that first eats away his flesh and then slowly, slowly begins to dissolve his bones and organs; captured by Midgardians and paralyzed but fully able to feel everything as they take him apart piece by piece, until finally nothing is left inside him but his brain, and then they cut into that too; falling through another void but here he is not weightless, here gravity increases as if he is being dragged deep, deep underwater, until the pressure slowly begins to crush him)—_

This time when he snaps back to reality, he is nearly crumpled on the ground, head throbbing. He looks up at Thanos and rasps out a laugh that sounds mad even to his own ears. "I already survived the worst your minions could throw at me. I will not break for memories of what I already endured." He climbs to his feet again, but slowly, locking his knees when they threaten to buckle. "My terms still—"

"Loki!"

 _…oh no_.

He jerks around before he can stop himself. Thor is sliding down the side of the ship; behind him, Valkyrie is briefly visible yelling at him before she ducks out of sight. Feverishly, Loki prays to whatever might be listening that she will decide to show more sense than Thor and continue to stay back to try to help the survivors.

As for Thor—

He is limping a little as he charges forward, his horrified gaze fixed on Loki, and Loki's stomach twists to see it. _Not like this. If he's heard—if he believes the lies—don't let me die with Thor convinced I've betrayed him again._

Thor stumbles to a stop, breathing hard and still looking a little dazed, his hair crusted with blood. "Let him go," he says to Thanos, and Loki flinches in surprise. "I am the king of Asgard—what is left of Asgard—and your business is with me. Let him go."

 _Thor, you idiot, I had a plan_ , Loki thinks despairingly. _Everything was going_ fine, _if you'd just stayed away—_ Well, this was probably going to end in Loki's death one way or another, but at least Thor might be safe. _Why couldn't you have just stayed unconscious and let me do this one thing?_

The Titan's smile broadens. "Ah, the mighty Thor. I've heard so much about you from your brother."

Thor stares back at him, stony, and lightning begins to crackle around his fingers. "Let. Him. Go."

"He doesn't have what you want," Loki snaps. "You know that I do. Just—"

"Silence," Thanos says, and Loki's mouth snaps shut (and he hates himself for how automatically he obeys, even now). "I think, little Laufeyson, it is time I offered you a bargain instead." He flicks his fingers.

Like the Hulk, Cull Obsidian moves deceptively fast for his size. He takes one earthshaking step forward and whips his hammer around. Thor has no time to do more than turn his head before the massive hammer smashes into him and sends him flying to collapse at the Titan's feet.

Loki almost lunges forward but pulls himself up short, digging his nails into his palms as if the pain will make his hands stop shaking. _Dammit, you idiot, get_ up—

Thor moves weakly to push himself up. Thanos reaches down, seizes Thor's head in one huge hand, and hauls him to his knees. "This is my bargain, Laufeyson: give me the Tesseract or watch your brother die, here and now."

"Loki, no," Thor says hoarsely, then winces as Thanos tightens his grip.

"I will," Loki says. He can still salvage this situation if he doesn't give too much away, maybe, but if Thanos calls his bluff— "I will. Just—take me with you. Once we are away, the Tesseract is yours." He'll have to do it, too, because if he continues to refuse as he'd planned, Thanos will simply return here and wipe out everyone.

"Still so arrogant," Thanos says. "You have nothing left to bargain." He squeezes harder, threatening to crush Thor's skull—and worse, Loki feels a spear of his power slam into Thor's mind, tearing through it with all the finesse of a butcher.

And Thor _screams_ —

"Stop," Loki says wildly; and louder, shouting to be heard: "Stop! Just—I'll do it, I'll give it to you, I swear, just— _stop_ —"

Thanos lets go and Thor slumps to the ground, gasping raggedly for breath, his nose bleeding. Loki inhales shakily and makes one last attempt. "I will give it to you. I swear it, on my life, on _his_ life. Just—let him go. You have no need of him, of any of them. Take me, leave these people alone, and I will—"

"Perhaps you misunderstood," Thanos says, his voice overpowering Loki's without effort. "You have _nothing_ to bargain, frostling. The Tesseract, now, no conditions, or he dies."

He should still refuse, Loki thinks, and the realization feels like a physical pain. If any of this is to mean a thing, he should let Thanos kill them all if it offers the slightest chance of keeping one of the Infinity Stones from his grasp. It might still be for nothing but he _should not_ trade the fate of the universe in a (likely pointless) attempt to save his brother.

Thanos reaches for Thor again, and Loki—cannot do it. He reaches into the spaces between the folds of reality and opens his hand, and the Tesseract blooms on his palm. Silently, he holds it up, all his words and tricks run dry.

"Yes," Thanos murmurs. He reaches out and the cube floats to his hand, where he gazes at it for just a moment before smiling and closing his fist. The cube shatters, leaving behind the naked Stone, already throbbing with power—and Thanos drops it into place on the Gauntlet. Loki almost thinks he can feel the universe shudder. _I'm sorry_ , he wants to tell Thor, _I had to, I couldn't watch him kill you—_

Thor struggles to his knees, more sparks dancing across his fingers as he tries in vain to summon his lightning. Thanos looks down at him and back across to Loki. "Yes," he says, "let's tie up these loose ends. Proxima—"

"With pleasure," she says, and thrusts her spear into Loki's back.

It isn't—he thinks—an immediately fatal blow, and like the Kursed's blade it seems to miss his spine. But he can feel ribs break, feel the points puncture his lung, and as his knees hit the dirt he is fighting for air, his mouth once more filling with blood.

Thor is screaming again, just like Svartalfheim, and Loki wants to apologize for that too, but he can't find the breath to speak. If they leave now—if Thanos doesn't care enough to finish the job, Loki is almost certain his healing will kick in and then it will be all right, he can apologize properly and say everything else he needs to say—if they will just _leave_ —

It's a slim hope. Thanos has always been thorough. And as Loki watches dazedly, Thanos holds up his gauntleted hand, the Space Stone glows, and a portal appears beside him, opening onto the dizzying blackness of space—

And the portal sucks Thor in and for an instant he is falling, _falling_ , dwindling from Loki's sight, before the portal snaps shut and Thor is gone.

 _I'm sorry_ , Loki thinks again, helplessly. _I'm…_

Oblivion pulls at him, promising relief or at least numbness, and Loki lets it carry him away.

* * *

 _OKAY SO HERE'S THE THING, first of all please note I did not tag this for "major character death" because NOBODY DIED and I realize that might not be super clear. We already knew from trailers that Thor got tossed into space somehow and picked up by the Guardians; and here, he has good reason to believe Loki is dead or about to be dead but in fact he isn't. HE'S UNCONSCIOUS. HE'S BASICALLY SLEEPING IT'S FINE. What happens next? I literally don't know, this was just supposed to be speculation. As things stand now, I might continue this as an AU, although I'm probably more likely to start closer to canon for any AUs I write just because that's likely to be simpler.  
_


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